When I started this project, I had no idea how big it would get. I figured
that I would just use a few of my reference books on naval ships so that
people on the Netnews group rec.arts.startrek.misc would ask fewer uninformed
questions about naval history. I used to post it regularly to that newsgroup,
until Joe Creighton offered to put it on his "Star Trek Archive" web site.
(April 1995)
The hit rate astonished me! People were really reading this stuff! Anyhow,
people started e-mailing me with additional information, suggestions for
improvements, etc. It got to be a bit overwhelming. Now I'm finding that
it's not just Star Trek fans who are interested. I'm now finding links
to this site on real naval history sites! I suppose I should point out to
any legitimate naval historians out there that this was originally designed
for fans of the various Star Trek television series, and so references to
future history (23rd & 24th centuries) and an obscure incedent aboard CVN-65
in 1986 involving one Pavel Chekov are of course, fiction. I was also a bit
sloppier about references than I should have been. When I started this, I
was doing it for a (then) small community of Star Trek fans on the Internet,
and I wasn't really planning on it being an academic work with footnotes and
references. Some things got lost in the shuffle, and probably a few errors
have crept in during transcription. Nevertheless, I've tried to at least
list my sources, and thank those who have contributed. Thanks for reading!

1705 - 1707 6th Rate Vessel. (UK)

Length: 110 feet

Beam: 28 feet

Draught: 15 feet

Compliment: 115

Armament of 24 guns

Displacement: 320 tons.

Previously French vessel L'Enterprise before her capture in May of
1705. Served in the Mediterranean under command of J. Paul.
May 19, 1707, her new captain takes command, W. Davenport, and she
saw action off of Leghorn, (Livorno) Italy.
She wrecked on October 12, 1707 off of Thornton.

Small wooden English Private passenger vessel.
The following is a German translation of an immigrant registration
for German and Swiss immigrants leaving for America via England,
bound for the Philadelphia ports to live in Pennsylvania:"
December 6, 1738, Palatines imported in the snow Enterprize, Lynell
Wood Master, from London, 120 passengers."

Formerly HMS George, a British supply ship. Captured from Great Britain
18 May, 1775 at St. Johns, Quebec on the Richelieu River by Col. Benedict
Arnold et. al. Armed for use on Lake Champlain, renamed Enterprise.
They took her to Crown Point, where the inland waters were under the
command of General Schuyler. She was then given to Captain Dickinson for
command.

28 August 1775: with other vessels, embarked 1000 troops for capture
of St Johns, Montreal, and Quebec.
August 27, 1775, with more than 1,000 troops, she helps capture
St.Johns, Montreal and besieged Quebec. They are forced to retreat
in the Spring of 1776 when more British Troops come.

4 September 1776: American forces were readied to engage the
British forces. Enterprise and 2 schooners, eight gondolas and 4
galleons set out under the strategy of Brigadier-General Arnold.

11-13 October 1776: Battle of Valcour Island (on Lake Champlain, near
Plattsburg, NY)
Tactical defeat for Americans, though strategic victory. British
invasion disrupted. Enterprise was one of only five ships to escape.

11 October 1776

11:00am, the fleet met the British in battle.

12:15pm, the fight was "very warm".

5:00pm, the fight was called for the night. 60 Americans
were killed.

7:00pm, the Enterprise and the rest of the fleet return to
Crown Point, since 70% of the ammunition was spent.

12 October 1776, by morning they reached Schuyler's island.

2:00pm, weighed anchor, and continued on.

6:00pm, reached within 28 miles of Crown Point. All night
long British vessels pursued.

13 October 1776, British vessels engaged the Enterprise and
American
forces near Split Rock. The second battled
ensued, leaving the fleet in shambles. Enterprise,
two schooners and one gondola hastily retreated.

14 October 1776, Enterprise reaches Ft. Ticonderoga at 4:00am.

26 October 1776: a battle took place between British and American
vessels near Plattsburg, New York.

7 July 1777: Battle of Lake Champlain

The vessel was defeated and ran aground. She and five other vessels were
helping in the evacution of Ticonderoga. The Enterprise was then burned
at Skenesboro.

While the ship was lost, the battle of Valcour Island delayed the
British advance by almost a year, which allowed the Americans time to
raise and train an army. The ship was destroyed during the British advance
toward Saratoga. On October 17, 1777, the American army under Gen. Horatio
Gates, decisively defeated the British at the Battle of Saratoga.
"This victory was a primary factor in bringing about the alliance with
France and bringing the powerful French Navy to the aid of the colonies."
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, pg. 355

No combat record. After two years of patrols near Brazil, (1832-1834)
she sailed around the world from New York, by way of Brazil, Africa, India,
the Far East, the East Indies, Honolulu HI, Mazatlan Mexico, Cape Horn,
Rio de Janeiro, and then to Philadelphia.

During the American Civil War, there was a United States Balloon Corps,
which used a balloon named Enterprise. Apparently, the Union Army
made some use of these balloons until the Balloon Corps was disbanded in
August 1863. I hope to investigate this further.

Armor belt: iron plate, 4.5 inches thick, from below the load
line to the upper decks.

Cost: 62,464 pounds

The first composite ironclad. (wooden construction with iron armor) While
some have classified this ship as a "lightweight battleship", I tend to
think of her as a modified sloop-of-war. She was MUCH smaller than
contemporary battleships.

No combat record. After fitting out at Norfolk VA, surveyed the mouth of the
Mississippi River. Returned to Norfolk April 1878. Left 27 May to survey
Amazon and Madeira rivers. Returned to New York. Left for Europe December
1878. Visited many northern European and Mediterranean ports.

9 May 1880: Returned to Washington Navy Yard for repairs. Decommissioned.

12 January 1882: Recommissioned

1 January 1883: Began 3 year worldwide hydrographic survey mission.
Contributed materially to the knowledge of the oceans, their
currents, and their bottoms.

21 March 1886: De-commissioned at New York.

4 October 1887: Re-commissioned

20 May 1890: De-commissioned at New York.

September 1891 - September 1892: Training ship at US Naval Academy,
Annapolis MD

17 October 1892: Loaned to Commonwealth of Massachusetts as maritime
school ship.

Built by John Brown, Clydebank, UK. Moved to Devonport Dockyard for completion.
Introduced the "knuckle bow" to Royal Navy cruisers. Served in World War II,
mainly deployed on the trade routes. Operated with the Far East fleet late in
the war. A wartime proposal to convert her into an aircraft carrier was
rejected. At some point, her two forward open-mount 6" single guns were
replaced by a 6" twin turret.

1926-1934: 4th Cruiser Squadron, East Indies.

1936-1937: East Indies.

30 Sep 1938: reduced to reserve service.

October 1939: used in Atlantic Convoys, after serving in the Northern
Patrol at Scapa Flow.

April-May 1940: took part in Norway Campaign.

19 April 1940: Torpedo attack by German U-65 missed.

24 April 1940: Bombarded German positions near Narvik, Norway.

June 1940: moved to Force H under Admiral Sir James Somerville at
Gibraltar.

September 1940: ended operations in Western Mediterranean. She was then
transferred to South Atlantic trade protection and escort duties.

5 December 1940: sets off
with cruisers HMS Cumberland and HMS Newcastle
to find German raider Thor.

January 1941: moved to Indian Ocean to assist and suppress the revolt of
Rashid Ali in Iraq in May and April of 1941.

11-18 March 1941: refit and repair at Colombo.

December 1941: helped escort troop ships to Singapore and Rangoon, and
then joined the Eastern Fleet under Admiral Sir James Somerville, taking part
in protection of trade.

25 December 1942: returned to Clyde for refit and modernization through
October 31, 1943.

27 December 1943: sunk German blockade runner Alsterufer off of
the Bay of Biscayne.

28 December 1943: Battle of Biscayne, south-west of Uhant. Light
cruisers HMS Enterprise and HMS Glasgow intercepted a squadron
of 10 German
destroyers sent to escort a German blockade runner into France. The two British
cruisers in what was apparently appalling weather engaged the Germans, sinking
3 destroyers: T-25, T-26 and Z-27. This is considered to
be the last major surface action in the European theatre.

6 June 1944: HMS Enterprise was part of the naval bombardment group off
Normandy in the American sector.

5:50am, the main batteries of HMS Enterprise, USS Nevada,
(BB-36) HMS Black Prince and USS Quincy, (CA-71) drench
the Normandy beaches at a high rate of fire for the forthcoming
allied invasion of Normandy.

7:16am, she has fired 145 rounds of 6 inch munitions at coastal
strong points north east of Pouppeville.

7:20am, Enterprise and other bombardment vessels supply call fire.

7-8 June 1944:HMS Enterprise experience near misses from German
Luftwaffe.

25 June 1944: departed Portland at 4:30am, with 10 ships in group one, to
help support of troops at Cherbourg.

12:14pm, Enterprise opens fire on Querqueville.

2:40pm, she ceases fire, silencing the German guns. She had fired
a total of 318 rounds of 6-inch shells.

Goodyear's first Enterprise was turned over to the Navy following the
Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor along with six other ships of the class to
serve as training vessels for the Navy's non-rigid airship program. The
Navy redesignated the blimp L-5.

20 September 1938: Enterprise leaves Brazil and stops at Cuba to pick up
mail. While enroute: they are hit by a powerful hurricane off of Cape
Hatteras. They then docked two days later at Hampton Roads: Virginia.
She was put to get a minor overhaul and readied for spring war
maneuvers.

25 October 1938: the ship leaves port and heads north. Off of Cape Cod,
the ship encounters a fierce storm.

21 December 1938:Given to Captain Charles A. Pownall.

9 January 1939: under way in convoy with USS Yorktown (CV-5).

6-9 March 1939: visit to Fort De France, Martinique.

1-14 April 1939: inport Hampton Roads taking on supplies

15 April 1939: President gives command to the fleet to head to
the Pacific.

19 April 1939: Enterprise puts to sea.

26 April 1939: enters the Caribbean and passes through Panama Canal.

2 May 1939: arrived San Diego.

1 July 1939: underway from San Diego for scheduled excersises.

July 1939: she was anchored at the Golden Gates International Exposition.

August-September 1939: exercises conducted off S.California coast.

October 1939: underway to Hawaii. Assigned Hawaiian Det, Battle Force,
serving as Flagship for ComScoFleet. She is moored at Pearl Harbor.

August-November 1940: excersises in Hawaiian waters.

November 1940: Hawaii to San Diego, then on to Bremerton.

January 1941: Bremerton to San Diego, then on to Pearl.

February 1941: Pearl to San Diego, then to Bremerton.

April 1941: Bremerton to San Diego, to Long Beach, then to Pearl.
Back to San Diego.

May 1941: San Diego to Pearl.

August 1941: Pearl to Johnston Island and back to Pearl.

28 November 1941: CV-6 and Battle Group head for Wake Island to
leave off Marine Fighting Squadron 211. Vice Admiral William F. Halsey
in charge of group, with 3 Heavy Cruisers and 6 Destroyers. On board is
18 TBD Devastators of Torpedo 6, 36 SBD Dauntless of Scout and Bomb 6 and
18 F4F-3 Wildcats of Fighting 6. [1]

30 November 1941: reached International Dateline.

4 December: 12 Marine fighters are launched for Wake Island.
(Japanese intelligence at this time reports that as of 28 November
Enterprise is still at Pearl.)[2]

7 December 1941: First American carrier to return to Pearl Harbor
after Japanese attack.[4] Four dive
bombers from Enterprise shot down by gunners at Ford Island, mistaking
them for Japanese planes.[5]

4-6 June 1942: Battle of Midway. In this critical battle, US forces
under Admiral Raymond Spruance decisively defeated a larger Japanese carrier
force under Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. This defeat ended Japan's hopes for
conquest of the Pacific.[8]

Aircraft from USS Enterprise at least
partially responsible for three Japanese carriers sunk.
Also sank the damaged heavy cruiser Mikuma.

4 June 1942

4:30 AM: Japanese launch strikes on Midway Island.

8:37 - 9:05 AM: Japanese recover aircraft.

9:30 - 10:24 AM: Three waves of American TBD torpedo bombers from
the USS Enterprise and the USS Hornet fail to hit Japanese
carriers.

10:26 AM: American SBD dive bombers from the USS Enterprise attack
heavy carriers Kaga and Akagi. Caught with planes refueling and
rearming on their decks, the Japanese carriers were set afire, and their
offensive power was destroyed. SBD dive bombers from the
USS Yorktown (CV-5) seriously damage light carrier Soryu.
Soryu is quickly sunk by submarine USS Nautilus

NOTE: Contrary to Okuda's entry for Repulse in the first
edition of "The Star Trek Encyclopedia",
HMS Repulse was not involved in this action.
HMS Repulse was sunk 10 December 1941 by Japanese torpedo bombers near
Singapore. More recent editions seem to have corrected this error.

USS Enterprise might easily have been sunk had it
not been for the anti-aircraft gunfire of the battleship USS South
Dakota (BB-57), which shot down a record 26 aircraft that day, a record
which still stands.

19-20 June 1944: First Battle of the Phillipine Sea, AKA The Great
Marianas Turkey Shoot. Approximately 400 Japanese aircraft destroyed by planes
from the Enterprise and other US carriers, and by anti-aircraft guns from
other US ships.

24-26 October 1944: Battle of Leyte Gulf. This was the largest naval
battle of all time. It was so large, that historians usually subdivide it
into several smaller battles, such as the Battle off Cape Engano, the
Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle off Samar, the Battle of the Surigao
Strait, etc. USS Enterprise was part of the Third Fleet's famous Task
Force 38, specifically TG 38.4.

Editor's Note: For many years, I had believed that the Enterprise had
been involved in this action. I thought that I had seen it in one of my
books. After searching all of my references, I can find no evidence that
CV-6 was involved in the sinking of the Yamato. Best evidence
suggests that the Yamato was sunk by aircraft from the carriers
USS Essex (CV-9),
USS Yorktown (CV-10),
USS Hornet (CV-12),
USS Bunker Hill (CV-17),
and USS Bennington (CV-20).

14 January 1969: Major flight deck explosion due to ordinance accident
with a Zuni rocket. 28 sailors killed. Launch and recovery operations resumed within hours. (John
Snyder, jsnyder@trmx3.dot.ca.gov, has disputed this last statement. He was a
crew member on the USS Bainbridge, so he probably has good reason to
know. Nevertheless, since several published sources make this statement, I'm
leaving it in until I see hard proof.)

May 1969: Re-commissioned

August 1969: Second refuelling during long period in dock.

January 1971: Recommissioned

1973: Final air attacks in Viet-Nam war. Docked for modifications to
facilitate F-14A and S-3A aircraft.

1986(?): Mysterious incident at Alameda: Soviet spy Pavel Chekov
captured
by ship's marines near one of the reactors. Although Chekov was injured
in an escape attempt, he later managed to escape from the hospital,
probably with KGB assistance. The Soviet Union denied any knowledge of
any Pavel Chekov, or of any KGB/GRU operations aboard the Enterprise.

April 1986: Transits Suez Canal, from the Red Sea to the
Mediterranean Sea.

January-August 1987: Deployment in Western Pacific, Indian Ocean,
through Suez Canal, returned to West Coast via South Africa,

December 1989: Operation Classic Resolve, provided support to
elected Philippine government.

Enterprise, the first Space Shuttle Orbiter, was originally to be named
Constitution (in honor of the U.S. Bicentennial). However,
viewers of the popular TV Science Fiction show Star Trek started a
write-in campaign urging the White House to rename the vehicle Enterprise.
While OV-101 never made it into space, she was a valuable testbed for
the space shuttle program.

17 September 1976: Rolled out at Palmdale, CA. Roddenberry et. al. were
present.

31 January 1977: Transported overland to Edwards Air Force Base/Dryden
Flight Research Facility

April-October 1984: Vandenberg AFB, later to Mobile Alabama, later to
1984 World's Fair, New Orleans, Louisiana.

20 November 1985: Ferried to Dulles Airport, near Washington, DC, where
she still remains. Ownership transferred to Smithsonian Institution. She
will be on display at the new
Dulles Center
when it opens in 2003.

August 1977: Entered the trials for the 23rd running of the
America's Cup.
Her skipper was Malin Burnham, later changed to Lowell North.
Her opponents were the Independence, and the
Courageous, under the command of Ted Turner.
Lost to Courageous.

1977-1980: she helped Freedom as a trial horse for the 1980
America's Cup. On September 25, 1980, when Freedom won race number 5
against Australia, they declared both Freedom/Enterprise a team win.

1986 After the Cup of this year, the owners of 'French Kiss', KIS
Photo Company, buys the Enterprise and Freedom for training
yachts.

Named after the 1930 America Cup winner, as established for names by
P.W.Litchfield in 1925. Twice a year, out of 200 days of travel, she
returns to Pompano Beach for scheduled refits and repairs. Maintenace
was at 3.3 million dollars per year.

8 November 1979: christened by Pompano Beach Mayor Emma Lou Olson.
Started her commercial flight the same day.

3 June 1980: Stopped at one of its favorite stopping places
Lancaster, PA, home of Lebzelter's; Goodyear's oldest distributor.
Last visited in June of 1990 (as luck would have it, season four
finale of Best of Both World's Part One, over my (Ronn Roden's) parents
house.)

Famous Activities for the Enterprise:

1980 Indianapolis 500 for ABC Sports

1980 Covered the PGA Golf Tournament in Northern New Jersey.

25th America's Cup 9/14-9/26/1983 Australia II v Liberty

Superbowl XVIII, 1/22/1984 (Tampa stadium) Raiders v Redskins

United States Bicentennial July 4,1986 New York City

Statue of Liberty Centennial July 4,1986

Superbowl XXII, 1/31/1988 (Joe Robbie Stadium) Redskins v Broncos

1988 Republican Convention

1988 Democratic Convention

College Bowl Games

Major Auto Races

ABC Monday Night Football

Baseball World Series

Major PGA Golf Tournaments

Whitebread Race 1990 at Ft.Lauderdale.

Among those visiting her during her career: James Doohan, George Takei, Walter
Koenig (from 1966-69 TV Series Star Trek)

19 April 1991: last scheduled flight from Pompano Beach Florida,
number 11,218. More than 50,000 passengers boarded her, and over
300 cities visited in United States and Canada.

22 April 1991: departed Florida for Wingfoot Lake Ohio for
decommissioning. Her light system was dismantled.

24 April 1991: landed in her hangar, made the trip in record time.

6-8 May 1991: Enterprise was decommissioned and deflated for spare
parts. She was replaced by THE SPIRIT OF AKRON.

Note: In "The Making of Star Trek", Roddenberry & Whitfield state
that the components for NCC-1701 came from the "old San Francisco Navy
Yard". There was no shipyard by that name in San Francisco. The Navy Yard
in the San Francisco Bay area was called Mare Island. It is now closed.

For the record, NCC-1701A is a Constitution class starship. If you look
carefully in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier", when the plans
for the ship are unrolled, it does explicitly say that she is a
Constitution class. That makes it "canon".

note: Since the Enterprise seen in the final TNG episode "All Good Things
" was explicitly NCC-1701D, and was also in an alternate time line, (an
unlikely alternate, given the events in Generations) I have chosen not
to give any specifications for it.

There seems to have been a British ship named Enterprize which
was sent off to find the new passage to the Orient in 1616. She succeeded,
but was destroyed in a hurricane near India. There is little data on her.

Apparently, there was a British ship named Enterprize that explored
the Yarra River in Australia around 1820. I have no additional data.

There has been a Malaysian supply ship named Enterprise
since the late 1980s. I'm looking for data on her. Apparently,
she is very small.

There is also currently a schooner named Enterprise, built 1947.
Again, I'm trying to get more information.

There was a picture of an earlier space ship named Enterprise
in Star Trek: TMP. There was no information about this ship in
the movie, but the Star Trek Space Flight Chronology
lists what is apparently this same ship, as a Declaration class, 2123-2165 AD,
While this ship's connection to "canon" is tenuous at best, (and, as of
2001, has been contradicted by the new series "Enterprise") the
statistics are reproduced here:

Sustenance duration - Up to 40 years if outfitted for long-duration exploration

Engineering and Science

Advanced 2nd Generation Warp Drive

Fuel: 10:1 matter to antimatter

Separated engine and living sections for improved efficiency

Improvements and innovations:

First class of ship equipped with sub-space radio

Most popular passenger carrier of its time

This original Enterprise was the first stellar spaceliner built
specifically
for the major Federation space lanes (such as Earth - Alpha Centauri). The
travel demand that blossomed in the 22nd century resulted in 957 of these
Declaration class ships being commissioned.

There were of course, many other ships named Enterprise, or Enterprize,
which are not listed here. No doubt, numerous yachts and other privately
owned vessels were given this name, or some variant thereof. I cannot
possibly list all of them here. I used to use the standard that only
ships commissioned into a navy (or Starfleet) could get onto the list,
but that would eliminate some of the blimps, and the America's Cup yachts,
all of which are historically significant. The standard I use now is a bit
vague. Commissioned warships named Enterprise are included, as are any
interesting (to me) or historically significant ships named Enterprise.

Ronn Roden, who provided much of the information on
the early sailing ships, the yachts, and the 1979-1991 blimp and so
much more! Ronn is the author of "History of the Vessel Enterprise"
published 1992, and he has kindly granted me permission to reuse much
of his material.

Arnold E. van Beverhoudt for allowing me to
reuse some of the information from his excellent website.

Notes on "Canonicity" of Sources:

When discussing technical and "historical" matters pertaining to
the various Star Trek series, fans often use the term "canon".
A piece of information is considered "canon" if it was mentioned
or shown on one of the television series (notable exception: the 1973-74
animated TV series is not considered "canon", despite the fact
that some episodes were quite well done.) or in one of the movies. In
general, none of the novels are "canon" sources, nor are any of
the various technical books that have been published over the years.
Supposedly, these standards were laid down by Gene Roddenberry himself,
although I've never seen any solid documentation of this.

Strictly speaking, none of my sources are canon, however some are better
than others.

My own historical sources on 20th century and earlier Enterprises
are quite reliable. I have had to rely on some other people on the for
information on some of the ships. For example, all of the information on
the first two blimps came from Thomas Kozak. He cited his sources, but I
haven't had time to go to the library to look up all his references.

For the various Star Trek Enterprises, none of the sources are
"canon", but some are close. For example, the length of the original
NCC-1701 was never mentioned in the original series, but Roddenberry &
Whitfield wrote 947 feet in "The Making of Star Trek" and every
other source since has quoted that figure. Since Roddenberry was the
creator and executive producer of Star Trek, nobody will argue
with his numbers! Similary, it's hard to argue with Rick Sternbach's
numbers on NCC-1701E.

Parkes and Friedman are considered
authoritative. Don't argue with them unless you've got REALLY good evidence.

Jane's Fighting Ships is considered definitive. (even
when they're wrong, they're definitively wrong!) Since 1898, the annual
edition of Jane's Fighting Ships has been one of the greatest sources for
information on modern warships. They make mistakes from time to time, but
that's the price they pay for trying to be up-to-date on often secret ship
projects.

I also hold Terzibaschitsch in high regard for
what he does. He does not go into great detail on the origin of the design,
but he provides superb information on the exact fitting of the ship at
different times, well organized comparison tables, plus some career
information.

I have also found Jentschura, Jung & Mickel to be reliable,
and their book provided much useful information on Japanese ships sunk by CV-6.

The "Star Fleet Technical Manual"
by Franz Joseph was mostly well researched, (there are some errors) and was
once considered nearly canon, but it has been contradicted many times since
its publication over 20 years ago. Alas, data in this book must now be
regarded as suspect. Still, the diagrams and statistics for the original
NCC-1701 are helpful, and are consistent with other sources.

"Ships of the Star Fleet" is sort of a late
23rd century version of
"Jane's Fighting Ships", or perhaps "Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet".
While it is quite interesting, and quite well produced, much of the
information has no support in canon, and some of it has been contradicted in
canon sources since its publication in 1987. I used this only for a few
details on NCC-1701 and NCC-1701A. The drawings are marvelous, though.

Notes on Distribution and re-use of this information:

Feel free to copy and distribute this, as long as you don't try to
make any money off of it. All I ask is that you give me appropriate
credit for compiling this list. It would be really nice if you credited
my contributors too.

Usual Disclaimer:

AT&T (my employer) had nothing to do with this list, so don't even think
about suing them. I am solely responsible for the content of the list. I wrote
it at home on my own PC on my own time. So there.